


the pinwheel spins

by tonyang (kurusui)



Category: Oh My Girl (Band)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-26
Updated: 2018-05-26
Packaged: 2019-05-14 02:19:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14760752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kurusui/pseuds/tonyang
Summary: "I don't think we've ever driven before, just the two of us," Hyojung says. / "Neither do I."





	the pinwheel spins

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tide_ms](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tide_ms/gifts).



> (prompts: girls comforting hyojung / windy day inspired.)
> 
> _emotions that were pressed into a corner of my heart / have awakened from a deep sleep._  
>  \-- [windy day](https://popgasa.com/2016/05/25/oh-my-girl-windy-day/)

 

“Does anyone want to go present shopping with me,” a bright voice asks from the hallway.

Jiho and Yewon turn to look at each other. Yewon holds a finger to her lips, like if they’re quiet enough, Hyojung will think no one’s there. “I have no money,” she whispers. “Also I want to read this webtoon.”

The issue isn’t really money. It’s time. Shiah’s a better suited shopping partner-

Hyojung bounces around the corner and puts her hands on her hips. “Don’t tell me you guys already got your gift for Seunghee-” she stops, blinking. “Seunghee isn’t here, right.” Jiho shakes her head.

“I did,” Yewon lies through her teeth. Such a procrastinator. Jiho grimaces, it’s a little too obvious, but Hyojung’s one track mind latches onto her next target instead.

“Jiho?” Hyojung asks, wiggling her eyebrows. Her hair is tied up in a towel bun, wet from the shower. She looks like a clown.

Jiho’s grip on her tablet softens, and it lands on the sofa cushion without a sound.

“How can I say no?”

 

The shopping district is cold, and fat snowflakes land in contrast on Jiho’s black gloves.

“What about cupcakes? Or macarons?”

“I kind of just want to window shop first,” Hyojung decides. Jiho looks at her doubtingly, not wearing a scarf or hat or hood, red cheeks exhaling hot air. When they left the dorm she was all smiles, but the effervescence is gone now.

“Sounds fun,” Jiho says, pulling her coat tighter across her shoulders. But after a moment, she adds, “Are you not cold?”

“That doesn’t matter, Jiho,” Hyojung says dismissively. “I need a present.”

They walk along the street, boots grating against the rock salt and sometimes bumping into people. The ends of Hyojung’s hair, not fully dried, are frozen.

“Should I get Seunghee some clothes?” Hyojung’s hands are flat against the display glass, leaving fingerprints when she moves. Hyojung is staring at a floral dress from a local boutique.

Finally, Jiho says, “I feel like Seunghee might want something more practical. And less costly.”

It’s like Hyojung snaps out of a trance. “This is why I needed you to come.” She marches off, and Jiho has to run along and follow.

“What’s wrong,” she asks.

Hyojung spins around. “I have to pick something really good,” she admits. “That’s why this is so hard. Seunghee always picks really meaningful presents for me and all of you and then all of you pick really nice things for each other and I feel like I can do better.”

Jiho almost bites her fingernails out of old habit, processing. “That’s silly.”

“Yeah, but I still feel that way sometimes.”

“It’s... it doesn’t matter,” Jiho says, reaching her shaky hand out. “It’s the thought that counts.”

Hyojung grasps it at once, and it’s only then that Jiho realizes how nervous she was.

“It really is all that matters.”

 

 

 

“I want to go for a drive,” Jiho says.

“Isn’t it a little hot for that?” Mihyun asks. The portable fan is blowing at maximum intensity, fluttering the pages of her sketchbook.

“I want to drive,” Jiho mourns.

“I can take you,” Hyojung says from her bed. That’s missing the point, but Jiho says yes anyway and jumps off the floor.

Outside is hot and humid and dark, but yellow street lights line the parking lot of their apartment complex. Hyojung shoves a key into the door and looks puzzled when it won’t go in. “Oh. Wrong key.”

“You know, I imagined driving around in the middle of nowhere, or into the sunset, or something. But this is really nice,” Jiho says sincerely, as Hyojung circles the neighborhood 10km under speed limit.

“That sounds really sarcastic.”

“It’s not!”

Hyojung bites her lip. “I think we need some music. Do you want to put on your Melon playlist?”

“What about yours?” Jiho asks, reluctant to have her favorites on blast and openly judged.

“Gosh, we can’t seem to agree, can we?” Without taking her eyes off the road, Hyojung turns on the radio to a night show. “Oh, this is my favorite DJ.”

“Would you get mad at me if I fell asleep in the car?” Jiho asks suddenly.

“No,” Hyojung says, “I would be happy you’re getting some rest.” She glances at Jiho. “Are you going to?”

“No, I just... aren’t you tired, too? We had a really busy day.”

“Oh, yeah I am. But... this is relaxing, too. Taking you around.”

“Are you sure? Do you want to go back?”

“Actually, not particularly. Did you want to?”

“No,” Jiho answers. “But can we go further from home?”

Hyojung slows the car, clearly thinking. The path she’s taken is really predictable, and more significantly, it’s really safe. She breaks the loop by turning left.

“Why not?”

“That’s the spirit,” Jiho says, leaning against the window.

“I don’t think we’ve ever driven, just the two of us,” Hyojung brings up.

“Neither do I.”

Jiho turns up the volume on the sound system, and they ride without speaking.

 

 

 

“Does anyone else want to get out of the car?” Yoobin asks when they stop, looking back. She’s sitting in the middle right seat, which means if anyone else wants to exit from behind her she has to get out of her chair. Jiho has already jumped out from the left door with a water bottle in hand. Judging by the sleep mask on top of her frizzy bedhead, Yoobin wants the answer to be no.

“Me,” Hyojung says though she doesn’t have to, raising her hand and waving it lazily. The front door opens with a dull thud.

“Anyone?” Yoobin flops back onto the seat, her belt automatically tightening against her shoulders. “Last call for the scenic view-”

“I’ll go,” Mihyun says from the back. Yoobin sighs goodnaturedly. “But I’ll crawl over Shiah.”

“Don’t wake her up,” Hyojung warns from the side. “Or Yewon.”

Jiho helpfully pulls the left seat forward as Mihyun flounders her way across Shiah’s lap and jumps off the side of the car, converse landing in the dirt outside and kicking up a small storm.

“Bye, guys,” Seunghee teases with a wave as she pulls the door shut. “See you next week.” Hyojung tugs her dress down, formerly scrunched up from sleeping, as the van pulls away and towards the gas station further along the shoreline.

“Oh, it’s so pretty,” Mihyun mumbles. “Dammit, my camera is in the trunk of the van.” Jiho stops watching the car and turns to look at the ocean. At their feet is dry, coarse dirt; in front of them is a slope down a grassy hill, and beyond that is blue-green waves.

“Mimi, Mimi-ya!” Hyojung drops her phone into her hands, which were outstretched and waiting. “Pictures.” She grins. Mihyun still takes a second to look at it, like she doesn’t believe it’s real.

“Right, we have those now.” Jiho laughs and then proceeds to sneak into her photoshoot.

“Stop pulling at my ear,” Mihyun whines. Jiho smiles and lets go. After a few minutes she’s tired of chasing Mihyun around and collapses on the ground. “I forgot to put on suncream this morning.”

Hyojung sits down on the grass, at the edge of the slope. “I just want to sit here and not do anything.”

“Me too,” Mihyun says, falling back on the grass and hitting her head when it lands on the ground. “Ouch.”

“Be more careful!” Hyojung scolds, slapping her on the arm.

“You just hit me!”

Jiho lies flat on the ground. “Does anyone else think they’re taking a long time to pick us up?”

Mihyun flicks Hyojung on the forehead. “At least the breeze is nice,” she says. “Plus I think manager unnie said the tank was almost empty, so maybe that’s why.”

Hyojung sits up suddenly. “Oh, you know what. I just saw Shiah get out of the car and go to to the convenience store.”

“I’m gonna go buy a cola too,” Mihyun yells, jumping up. “I’ll go back first.”

“Alright, walk safely, Mihyun,” Hyojung says, but she’s already run off. “Aish, I worry about her.”

“I think it’s going to rain,” Jiho says, looking up. A sudden gust of wind blows her hair into her face.

“Do you want to run back too?” Jiho turns to see Hyojung’s face, concerned and blinking fast.

“Um... No, that’s fine.” Jiho lies back, hair tangling with the grass. The sky is gray and -

“Do you think there are going to be grass stains on my dress later?” Hyojung asks, laughing and peeking at the edges of the skirt. “Seems like it was wet this morning.”

“Kind of too late to ask that,” Jiho says, lifting a corner. “There’s a little bit of green over here, where the pattern is white.”

“Huh. Oh well.”

Jiho closes her eyes and pretends that she’s not wearing white either.

“Oh, I just got a text message from Seunghee,” Hyojung says. “It says ‘Hyojung unnie, give me my phone back’- oh I guess that’s Mihyun.” The phone is leaning against Jiho’s water bottle. “Ah. Great.”

“I put it there,” Jiho clarifies. “After you finished taking pictures and I took a selfie instead of a picture of unnie.”

Hyojung’s mouth opens wide. “You’re my lifesaver.”

“No I mean like... I stole it,” she finishes lamely. “But I knew where I put it.”

“You know what, Jiho.” Hyojung rolls over to her stomach, forearms pressed against the ground. “I have a question.”

“Yes, unnie?”

“Do you want to be leader for the rest of the day?” she asks, laughter in the undercurrent of her words. “I’m tired.”

“Do I look like I could be a leader,” Jiho returns in surprise.

“Sometimes,” Hyojung admits. “Don’t get me wrong. I wonder how all of you would do as leader.” She giggles, though. “Not Yewon.”

“So why me?”

“I’d ask Seunghee, but she didn’t get out of the car with me.”

Jiho lets that simmer, closing her eyes again. It doesn’t really answer the question.

“It doesn’t sound that burdensome, if it’s really only a day. You just lead us around, answer questions, do some head counts, run a meeting on how we’re doing - wait, that’s Friday. So I don’t even have to do that.”

“I agree,” Hyojung says. “Yeah, that’s probably it, for today.” She’s pulling some blades of grass from the ground, Jiho can tell. She can hear the snapping noises.

“So it wouldn’t take much off your shoulders either.”

“Can’t really expect you to do anything else though.”

At that, Jiho turns her head to look at her. Hyojung’s playing with the grass, eyes focused. Even when she’s trying to be serious her face still has that pout on it, like a frustrated little kid.

“I think you should get a pay raise for being the leader,” Jiho insists. “It’s only fair. You can quantify the duties and everything.”

“Jiho, you’re so cute. We’re a team.”

“But,” she says, “I’m sure it would be nicer to be recognized more. Or at least you could ask us to do some more.”

“Jiho, what a roundabout way of saying that you’re thankful for me. Maybe even,” she says, nodding her head surely, “that you love me.”

Jiho sits up, twists the cap off the bottle and takes a sip of water. “Maybe.”

Hyojung smiles. “Here, I made you a flower crown,” she says. Jiho opens her hands and Hyojung drops a ring of weeds onto her palm. “Remember these? I used to make them all the time in elementary school. In that field behind the back entrance... all you could see is these white flowers.”

Jiho holds it gingerly with her fingertips. The edges are sticky with dandelion sap and the stems are already wilting.

“It’s really pretty.”

Hyojung lifts it from her hands and places it on her head from behind, like a crowning. “There. King Jiho. May you ever be responsible, caring and observant.”

“Do I look like a leader now?” She sits up straight, fixing her posture, legs crossed. Hair flowing across her back in waves.

The wheels of the van come around again, and the dirt crunches below its weight. The door opens, machinery clicking into place, and Seunghee sticks out a hand as if to take hers.

“Your chariot awaits, princess,” Seunghee quips. The seat beside her is stacked with single serving chip bags and candy bars.

Jiho turns behind to look at Hyojung, who’s smiling proudly. “Of course, our queen first.”

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> to recipient - i really hope you enjoyed this! i wanted to write something we've never seen before and this pairing seemed like the right choice. i had a lot of thoughts going into this and i don't think i was able to convey them as well as i wanted but i think hyojiho is so underexplored. hopefully i did it a little bit of justice.
> 
> many, many thanks to those that helped me with writing this - i owe you so much! really.


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